Pete Olson: It’s time to impeach Eric Holder

Rep. Pete Olson, R-Sugar Land, took up his call to impeach Attorney General Holder again Wednesday.

The congressman returned to the House floor to remind his colleagues that he had filed articles of impeachment for the chief law enforcement officer last November. Olson has 28 supporters, all Republicans, including eight other Texans.

“[Holder] has a long record of enforcing laws he likes and ignoring laws he doesn’t like. The oath he took doesn’t give him that choice,” Olson said.

He pointed to the influx of Central American migrants across the nation’s border with Mexico, claiming the United States has “laws on the books to stop this crisis, and yet Mr. Holder won’t enforce those laws.”

Olson is not the only Texas lawmaker to say the attorney general deserves impeachment. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has argued that Holder should appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the Internal Revenue Service for targeting conservative political advocacy groups, or face impeachment.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has said that if Holder does not appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the IRS, the House should impeach him. (AP photo)

Time reported that in the nation’s history the House has only impeached one member of the president’s cabinet, Secretary of War William Belknap, in 1876.

Olson said since Holder assumed office in 2009, “he chose politics over our laws. He chose to break his oath.”

“The only weapon Congress has for federal officials who break their oath and our law is impeachment,” he said. “I ask my colleagues to remember that we are a nation of laws. Show the American people that our Constitution is alive and well.”

In 2012, the House voted to hold Holder in contempt of Congress for refusing to hand over documents about the Fast and Furious program, a botched sting operation. Olson also implied that Holder lied about signing off on what the congressman called an operation to target Fox News reporter James Rosen.